Esther 7:3

Esther 7:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request:
• New International Version (NIV)Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Then Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Then Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.

Context of Esther 7:3

1So the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen. 2And the king said to Esther on the second day also as they drank their wine, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom, it shall be done.” Then Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be spared as my petition, and my people [be spared] as my request; 4for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, killed and wiped out of existence. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for our hardship would not be sufficient to burden the king [by even mentioning it].” 5Then King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who dares to do such a thing?”

Esther 7:3 word by word

וַתַּ֨עַן אֶסְתֵּ֤ר הַמַּלְכָּה֙ וַתֹּאמַ֔ר אִם־מָצָ֨אתִי חֵ֤ן בְּעֵינֶ֙יךָ֙ הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ וְאִם־עַל־הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ ט֑וֹב תִּנָּֽתֶן־לִ֤י נַפְשִׁי֙ בִּשְׁאֵ֣לָתִ֔י וְעַמִּ֖י בְּבַקָּשָׁתִֽי׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Then Estherאֶסְתֵּר'estêr · EstherH635
• the queenמַלְכָּהmalkâh · queenH4436
• answeredעָנָה‛ânâh · to answerH6030
• and saidאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
• If I have foundמָצָאmâtsâ' · to findH4672
• favourחֵןchên · favorH2580
• in thy sightעַ֫יִן‛ayin · eye: seeingH5869
• O kingמֶ֫לֶךְmelek · kingH4428
• and if it pleaseטוֹבţôb · be pleasingH2895
• let my lifeנֶ֫פֶשׁnephesh · soul: lifeH5315
• be givenנָתַןnâthan · to give: giveH5414
• me at my petitionשְׁאֵלָהshe'êlâh shêlâh · petitionH7596
• and my peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
• at my requestבַּקָּשָׁהbaqqâshâh · requestH1246

Cross-references for Esther 7:3

• Esther 7:7Then in his fury, the king stood up from drinking wine and went into the palace garden [to decide what he should do]; but Haman stayed to plead for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king.
• 1 Kings 20:31But his servants said to him, “We have heard that the kings of the house (royal line) of Israel are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth around our loins and ropes on our necks [as symbols of submission], and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.”
• 2 Kings 1:13So Ahaziah again sent a captain of a third fifty with his fifty [fighting men]. And the third captain of fifty went up and came bowed down on his knees before Elijah, and begged him [for compassion] and said to him, “O man of God, please let my life and the lives of your servants, these fifty, be precious in your sight.
• Job 2:4Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! Yes, a man will give all he has for his life.
• Jeremiah 38:26then you are to say to them, ‘I was presenting my [humble] petition and plea to the king so that he would not send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’ ”
• Esther 4:8Mordecai also gave him a copy of the text of the decree which had been issued in Susa for the Jews destruction, so that he might show Esther and explain it to her, and order her to go in to the king to seek his favor and plead with him for [the lives of] her people.
• Psalms 122:6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you [holy city].

Commentaries on Esther 7:3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Let my life be given me - This was very artfully, as well as very honestly, managed; and was highly calculated to work on the feelings of the king. What! is the life of the queen, whom I most tenderly love, in any kind of danger?Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3-4my life...and the lives of my people: The statement that someone wanted to kill the queen and her family likely surprised and shocked the king. my people and I have been sold: Esther carefully mentioned the large sum Haman paid the king to approve the decree (Esther 3:8–11). She also used the exact words from Haman’s decree, stating its purpose was to destroy, kill, and annihilate (see Esther 3:13). If we had merely been sold as menservants and…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-64. we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed--that is, by the cruel and perfidious scheme of that man, who offered an immense sum of money to purchase our extermination. Esther dwelt on his contemplated atrocity, in a variety of expressions, which both evinced the depth of her own emotions, and were intended to awaken similar feelings in the king's breast. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue--Though a great calamity…Read the comment

Topics related to Esther 7:3

• Readings, Select

In the dictionaries

• Esther
• Esther, Hadassah
• Banquet
• Esther, Book of

Commentaries on Esther 7

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings